CrossFit group jogging past restaurant sparks mass panic and everyone starts running

A video has captured the chaotic moment customers at a restaurant mistook a group of CrossFit runners for something far more sinister.

On Saturday, 24 September, CCTV captured people sat outside at Cervejaria Alphaiate bar and restaurant in Ed California condo, Brazil, enjoying a meal or drink.

However, the footage then showed a sudden moment of mass panic at around 9:00pm, when customers saw a group of people running straight towards them.

Be prepared to be just as confused as the customers were: 

The CCTV footage shows a woman coming into the shot from the left, followed by a dog and a series of other runners.

Upon seeing the group running towards them, the diners quickly stand up and begin to flee the scene, overturning chairs and tables in their fright.

The venue's staff can also be seen looking questioningly at the group of runners, before they also begin to get up and run away in confused panic.

The video has gone viral on sites such as Reddit and Twitter, amassing millions of views.

It has since been revealed that customers and staff believed the runners were thieves who were targeting them for their personal belongings.

One user commented: "They thought they were the victims of 'arrastão', a type of crime where a group of thieves runs across gathered people robbing their valuables at gunpoint. Very common on Rio de Janeiro beaches."

Doctor Amyr Kelner, who claims to have been at the restaurant when the panic broke out, told G1: "It was very fast. People were coming slowly, then, when they got close to our table, they started running.

"I told my friend to call and hold her bag. She got up and, at that moment, someone shouted that it was a robbery.

"That’s when I got up, shouted that it was also a robber and ran away."

It's not funny, in Brazil they occur in some places, what they call "drag", that is, they are groups of miscreants that in groups attack many people and rob them. Brazilian citizens are always alert. Currently, the number of this type of robbery has dropped, but it still happens.

— Fernanda Picchirulle Tonelli C. MacMillan (@floresdepapel6) September 24, 2022

Thankfully, the customers and staff were informed by the runners that they were part of a CrossFit group, and were not attempting to nick anything.

"After a few minutes, we saw that nothing was happening. Everyone started laughing and went back to the tables as if nothing had happened.

"When I got up, I put my cell phone and wallet in my pocket. There were people who thought I was pulling out a gun. It’s something to live in a city as insecure as ours.

"Thank God, I’ve never been robbed, nor have I experienced anything like that, but you’re in an extremely dangerous city and you see three people running towards you," Dr. Kelner recalled.

This is in Recife Brazil, my city. Sometimes a bunch of thieves work together to rob a large group of people. This is comum to see in festivals, carnival or even in the beach when there is a crowd. They tought the people doing crossfit were running away from something like that..

— Melk0r (@Melk0r_) September 24, 2022

The restaurant later clarified in a statement: "[The incident was] nothing more than a misunderstanding."

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